Black Box Truck Accident

Tragically, thousands are killed or seriously injured in truck accidents each year. It can be difficult for truck accident victims to recover damages even when they are catastrophically injured. Their families may find it difficult to recover damages in the event of wrongful death An important piece of evidence in your case may be the black box within the truck that collided with you; trucking companies realize this. The data in a truck’s black box may be destroyed sooner than you think. You must retain an attorney who has the experience to go up against the truck driver, the trucking company, and anyone else who may be at fault for a truck accident in which you were injured or loved one was killed. The seasoned Syracuse truck accident lawyers of DeFrancisco and Falgiatano may be able to represent you in a black box truck accident.

Within a commercial truck is a black box that is also known as an electronic control module (ECM). These are devices that store data about what was going on with the truck at the time of an accident and just before it. The black box in a truck could be our lawyers’ primary source of information about how fast the truck that hit you was going and where it was located prior to a crash. It may indicate whether the truck driver suddenly decelerated or accelerated before the collision. It should include information about whether the brakes were hit and at what point. The black box may show monthly or daily truck activity and how frequently a truck was driven over the speed limit. Black box data can also be used by an accident reconstruction expert to develop important testimony in your case. The expert may be able to determine whether safety regulations were violated, along with contributing causes to the accident.

The black box may reveal details such as tire pressure, whether the airbag deployed, whether the truck driver was wearing a seatbelt, and data about how much the truck was driven. This last piece of data could be very useful when interpreted alongside the entries in a truck driver’s logbook. Interstate truck drivers must abide by federal hours of service regulations with respect to the maximum amount of time they can drive without a break.

Most ECMs record data for 30 days. At that point, the information may be recorded over. Additionally, some trucking companies intentionally destroy or conceal data. This can make it challenging to establish your right to damages.

Often Syracuse truck accidents involve multiple victims, all of which may be making claims against a negligent truck driver's insurance. To establish liability, you will need to show the truck driver failed to use the applicable standard of care, thereby causing the truck accident that resulted in your injuries. The evidence in the black box could show, for instance, a truck driver was speeding just before it jackknifed and collided with you. A Syracuse jury is likely to find that the speeding truck driver was negligent.

It may also be important to sue another party such as the trucking company. You can hold a trucking company directly liable for your injuries by establishing that it negligently hired, supervised, or trained a truck driver. The evidence in the black box could be used to show the truck driver’s logbook included falsified time entries that a trucking company should have caught. If that is the case, this could go towards establishing a trucking company's negligent supervision of its truck driver. Trucking companies are supposed to supervise their interstate truck drivers to confirm that they are following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.

If we are retained, we will need to act quickly to investigate all causes of the truck accident. We will write a spoliation letter to the trucking company and its representatives letting them know you have a claim and telling them not to destroy important information in the black box and other potentially relevant evidence such as logbooks. When a trucking company fails to preserve black box evidence, knowing of an accident victim’s claim, it could be subject to sanctions in court.

If you are concerned about a black box truck accident in Upstate New York, you should call the seasoned Syracuse truck accident lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We represent truck accident victims in Lowville, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn, Watertown, Utica, Herkimer, Oswego, Lyons, Wampsville, Canandaigua, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Oneida, and Elmira. Fill out our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.